The Board of Water Supply (BWS) has announced a pilot program offering about 38,000 Oahu customers in Mililani, Kapolei, Waipahu, Kailua, Aina Haina/Waialae, and Hawaii Kai the opportunity to learn how their water use compares with similar neighboring households through a pilot program called WaterSmart. The project is being co-funded by Energy Excelerator, a Hawaii-based accelerator program customized for energy and water startups. Here are some commonly asked questions about the pilot program.

The BWS mission is to provide safe, dependable and affordable water now and into the future, Ka Wai Ola—Water for Life. WaterSmart is an initiative that would help to ensure a sustainable water supply by promoting water conservation, a key objective in the BWS's recently adopted Water Master Plan.

The WaterSmart platform, which is deployed in more than 50 cities across the country, provides detailed online and mobile water consumption data for each participating customer. WaterSmart also provides a regular Water Report that compares the customer’s water use with similar users and recommends personalized measures to improve water-use efficiency. Customers receiving Water Reports and access to the companion website and mobile application have proven to have a better understanding of their water use, higher satisfaction with their water utility, and are more likely to use water efficiently. Customers can also sign up for high consumption alerts or other communications from the water utility.

About 38,000 BWS residential and non-residential customers in Mililani, Kapolei, Waipahu, Kailua, Aina Haina/Waialae, and Hawaii Kai will receive letters from the BWS to participate in WaterSmart.

The welcome letter will introduce them to WaterSmart, describe the benefits of participation, and ask them to activate their account to enable access to a website with details of their past water use, recommendations to use water efficiently, and the online Water Report.

Participating residential customers also will be asked to take an online water usage survey. Responses from each survey are used to provide water-saving tips and messages customized for that particular household’s water usage. Implementing these tips has been shown to decrease water usage 2-5% over time.

This is a pilot program with approximately 38,000 BWS customers invited to participate. Once the pilot project is finished, the BWS will evaluate the program and determine if WaterSmart will be rolled out to the rest of its 170,000 customers.

By logging on and completing an informational survey on the WaterSmart portal, BWS customers participating in the WaterSmart pilot project will be able to receive more customized recommendations that may help them determine ways to manage their water usage more efficiently.

At the same time, the BWS also provides a number of publications and other resources that may help the public evaluate their water usage. Links to publications in PDF format and to online resources are listed below for your convenience.